State track: Damascus Christian wins boys state title, Centennial’s Allen wins girls high jump

Published 12:05 am Saturday, May 31, 2025

By Austin White

The Damascus Christian High School boys track and field team sent a total of four athletes to the 1A state track and field championships May 29-30 at Hayward Field in Eugene.

And those four Eagles are leaving as 1A team state champions.

The quartet made up of two sophomores in Gavin Anderson and Elijah Davidson, and two juniors in Levi Schell and Peyton West were able to score 70 points as a team and beat out Adrian in second with 63 points for the state crown.

The state crown is the fourth in Damascus Christian boys track and field history and its first since winning it all in 2012.

Anderson led the way for the Eagles by scoring 26 individual points thanks to a state title in the 200 meter run (22.96 seconds), along with second place finishes in both the 100 (11.38) and 400 (51.37) meter races.

Davidson wasn’t far behind with 20 points, winning both the 110 (14.96) and 300 (40.57) meter hurdles state titles.

“I got out of the blocks, got beat to the first hurdle, I’m usually with the pack,” Davidson said of the 110 race. “I stayed with the plan and that gave me confidence in myself to keep going and I got my goal, the perfect time.”

The group of four started the second day of the 1A meet by taking home first in the 4×100 relay, winning in a time of 44.48 seconds.

Then out in the field for the long jump, Schell clutched up by jumping 21 feet, 4.25 inches on his sixth and final jump to take over the lead and hold it.

On the first day, Schell was able to battle for fifth place in the triple jump, giving him a total of 14 individual points.

For comparison, Adrian in second place had seven different athletes compete and weren’t able to overcome the four of Damascus.

“We got a small boys team, but we have a lot of good potential,” Davidson said prior to the final team results coming across.

As the Eagles proved, it’s more than just potential. This team is here and ready to keep winning with none of them graduating after 2025.

Centennial’s Alana Allen takes high jump crown

Centennial junior Alana Allen got the first big school state title for east Multnomah County, winning the 5A girls high jump crown with a top clearance of 5 feet, 4.25 inches.

Allen passed on the first height of the day before hitting the next three marks on her first attempt.

And after the third, Allen was already alone as the rest of the field had bowed out, unable to clear 5-1.75.

With the title in hand, Allen skipped to 5-4.25 and was able to clear it before moving all the way up to 5-7.75 where her day finally ended.

Winning the event is quite the improvement for the junior after missing state all together in the event in her first two years in high school.

In 2025 though, she had one of the top 5A marks all season and set a personal record of 5-6 earlier this month on May 9 at the Dean Nice Invitational.

Allen had an excellent training partner all year in fellow junior Grace Chienku, who was next to Allen all season as well. Chienku finished in seventh place with a clearance of 4-11.5.

Centennial will try to add a couple more state titles on Saturday with senior Khen San representing the Eagles in the 5A boys hurdles events.

San had the top preliminary time in the 110 meter hurdles at 14.74, and put up the third best time in the 300 hurdles at 39.58.

The 110 hurdles final is scheduled for 3:10 p.m. and the 300 hurdles will follow at 4:28 p.m. on Saturday.

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